SpaceX misses its first Falcon 9 landing in two dozen attempts

Enlarge / At left, a glow can be seen on the horizon just as a Falcon 9 rocket was due to land. (credit: SpaceX webcast)

A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday night carrying its payload of 60 Starlink satellites. After dropping off the second stage in a parking orbit, the first stage reentered Earth’s atmosphere for a rendezvous with a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Alas, the rocket never made it to the boat. The company’s launch webcast included a video from the drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, and a distant glow could be seen on the horizon when the rocket was due to land.

“We did get a little bright glow… no longer see a flame there… it does look like we did not land our booster,” said launch commentator Jessica Anderson, a manufacturing engineer at SpaceX. “It is unfortunate that we did not recover this booster, but our second stage is still on a nominal trajectory.”